Sound Reasoning
by VolantRedX
Summary: Deep breath, count to ten, and let's talk like adults.
1. Chapter 1

So I desperately need to get back to writing, so here's a short little one shot to try and get me into form. It's set during 3.5, and is about what would happened if Armsmaster wasn't such a dick.

 **Sound Reasoning**

"Abandon this charade, little bug girl, before you bite off more than you can chew. Tell me what you know, right now, then go home. I don't care if you put your costume away for good or if you sign up for the Wards, but don't go on with the solo act. That's my recommendation."

That stung. I tried again, "I gave you Lung, full credit. You can't give me the benefit of a doubt?"

"You...!" He shouted, but cut himself off from the rest of what he was about to say. Armsmaster let out a heavy breath, and paused for several seconds. My dad would do the same thing to keep from yelling. A part of me felt embarrassed that I let the conversation get so heated. A smaller part resented the fact that Armsmaster was the one acting adult. I knew it was silly, he was the adult, but still I could tell it only proved he was right about me being too young. 

"Lung was almost dead when I brought him in. Do you realize that? He was barely breathing. As far as anyone knows that's on me."

"I didn't mean to," I protested. I wanted to argue more, the amount of venom in his system shouldn't have been lethal. I was sure part of it was due to the tranquilizers, but right now I needed Armsmaster to listen to me.

"I understand, and I'm not unsympathetic. That's why we have to Wards. To help kids like you from going overboard. Learn the system and to know when to stop before they hurt someone."

I almost growled. I was so sick of hearing about the Wards. The more he brought it up the less I wanted to do it. It felt like he was trying to talk me into sitting at the kids table to avoid annoying the grown ups. I was a hero, or I was trying to be. He should respect that. "I don't want to join up. Not now. Not when I have a chance to do real good. I just need you to trust me."

He shook his head. "You don't get it. I can't help. Not like how you want."

"You don't get it. I just need a little more..."

"No, you don't understand. I literally can't help. What you're asking me to do, what you're planing, it breaks everything I've sworn to uphold. This is what I mean by learning the system. Your spy operation is illegal. If it didn't get you killed anything you'd give me would be thrown out of court."

"...but" I hated how weak my voice had gotten. I almost wanted to cry. I was sure, so sure, that this was my big chance. My way of making a real difference, become a hero. To learn that it was all a lie. No, not a lie, a fantasy, a stupid dream I made up in my head, and Armsmaster's words were like a cold bucket of water to wake me up. I should have known better than to think I could make a difference.

"Look, you seem like a good kid, a little overzealous but you seem like you really want to make a difference. I might not be able to help get in deeper but I can help to get you out. You say they're planing something? Tell me, or tell me what you think you can without letting Tattletale know and we'll bring them in."

"It won't hold them, and if they get out they'll try and kill me."

"I won't lie and say they can't ever get out, but even the best Villains take time to stage an escape. We can offer protection if they do escape and seek revenge. I can even see about relocation." His voice trailed off, waiting for my answer.

I thought about it. I...didn't hate the idea. A chance to get away from Emma, from the absolute mess of a hero career I had so far. A fresh start, a new life. I really thought about it. There was one big problem.

"My dad," I said. "He doesn't know about any of this. I'll have to tell him everything."

Armsmaster gave me a long look. "Is your father the reason you triggered?"

"What?! No."

"Then tell him. The longer you try to hid this, the worse it will be if he finds out."

"I know, that's not even the problem," I knew what I was about to say would effect me forever, but if I couldn't trust Armsmaster I was never going to trust anyone. "My name is Taylor Hebert, my dad is Daniel Hebert, he's a big shot on the dockworkers Union. He's built his whole life around Brockton Bay. He won't want to go, and if he has to leave because of my mistakes..."

I looked down, imagining the way dad would look after having to abandon this city, all his dreams, because I was an idiot. Suddenly a heavy hand pushed my chin up, Armsmaster looked at me, without his helmet. I was so frozen up that all I could think was _'he has really pretty eyes'_

"My name is Colin Wallis, and I promise you, if you father is any sort of parent you're life and future will mean more to him than this city ever could. No matter where you are sent, no matter what happens you will be safe even if I have to call in every Protectorate member in the country to make sure of it."

"Y-you really mean that?"

"It's the least I could do for a fellow hero."

What could I say I smiled, before I tried to school my features into a heroically stoic expression. Despite my practice my lips didn't seem to want to stop. Clearing my throat I got back to business.

"Alright, here's what I know."


	2. Chapter 2

Flying was a strange feeling I decided. Part of it was the sense of being weightless, part of it was the speed of it, and a big part of it was the fact that for the first time in weeks she couldn't feel her power at work. This high up there weren't any bugs for my mind to latch on to. It was like being wrapped up in a heavy blanket. Everything seemed quiet and far away. It gave me time to think. Almost too much time. I couldn't help but feel apprehensive about being relocated. With all of the Undersiders besides Bitch being captured it seemed like an overreaction to move me and dad out of the city. Still if that's what the Protectorate thought was best, I didn't have much choice but to go along with it. Even so it felt like I was abandoning a lot, all those memories no matter how good or bad seemed to make leaving feel like I was running away.

In the seat next to me, dad shifted, mumbled something I couldn't quite make out, and stretched out.

"Hey Taylor," he said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour, I think we still got a while before we land."

"Geez I forgot how boring plane rides could be."

"I guess, this is the first time I've ever done it."

"Actually it would be the third."

"Really?" I tried to remember when I ever flew before.

"Yeah, you we're a bit young so you might not remember it, but do you remember the time we all went to New York?"

"...kinda," I had a few vague memories of their visit. The city was still being rebuilt, so I couldn't have been more than four or five.

"Well, we flew then, though the flight to New York is a lot shorter than the flight to LA." He chuckled a bit.

"Yeah," I gave dad a smile, but soon my smile slid off my face. A question had been bothering me since the first time Armsmaster and I explained everything to dad. It had gotten worse as they started to plan the relocation. I knew the longer I put off asking the harder it would be to ask. Taking a deep breath I turned to look at her dad. "Are you mad?"

"Mad? About what?"

"About this, about having to move, having to leave everything behind because of me?"

"What? Of course not," he paused at my look, then sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, I'll admit I was a bit angry."

"Oh," I felt a bit deflated at his admission.

"Let me finish, I was angry, but not just at you. I was mostly angry that you didn't think you could trust me, and I hated the fact that I hadn't been there enough to give you a reason to trust me. That you thought you had to hide things from me because I wouldn't understand."

"I just didn't want you to worry," I muttered.

"Taylor," Dad's voice was soft, and even a bit sad. "It's not your job to avoid worrying me. I'm your dad, I'm supposed to be the one trying to protect you, not the other way around. I know I haven't been there for you like you needed me to be. With work, and...and your mom, it's been hard. The fact is I've been letting the world get the best of me, rather than trying to fight like I used too."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that kind of admission from my dad. Instead I settled for shrugging and turning toward the window.

"Still," dad continued. "We have a chance to put all that behind us. New city, new lives, fresh start."

"Yeah," I said "Fresh start."

I hadn't really thought about that before. True I knew that we were moving, and getting new identities. I'd be starting a new school and even starting my Wards career away from all the problems, but before when I thought about it it seemed silly to think of it as anything other than just a change in location. Being in a new city wouldn't make me a new person. This might be a chance to do what I had thought about doing with the Undersiders, change things for the better. No one needed to know about Taylor Hebert, loser. Instead they could meet Taylor Forster, new kid. I could get away from all the rumors and insults and just be me. The Wards too, didn't need to know how I managed to make every mistake possible trying to do good. I'd just be the kid from Brockton Bay trying to be a hero, just like any other Ward.

That thought brought a smile to my face. For the first time in awhile I was looking forward to moving.

XxXXxX

A few hours later we arrived at the new apartment. Dad didn't have enough time to find a house in our price range. It had two bedrooms, and it was pretty new. After the flight all I wanted to do was climb into my new bed and sleep, but we had barely arrived when there was a buzz from the intercom. The Protectorate had sent someone to pick me up, so I could be introduced to the Wards.

The drive to the Protectorate Headquarters passed mostly in silence. The agent they sent to pick me up tried to make some small talk at first but frankly I was too exhausted to really deal with that sort of thing, so she gave up trying. It took almost half an hour to get there from the apartment, and if that was good time or not I couldn't tell. I was so use to Brockton Bay's more compact layout I didn't have any sense of this sort of thing. We entered through a side door that the agent told me was a way to protect the capes identities.

After we exited the call she handed me off to another agent, who led me through a long series of hallways to a large room.

"Wait here," he told me. "Someone will be by soon."

With that he left, not even giving me time to ask any questions. I was sort of put out at this point. They drag me all the way here and so far I've been bounced from one person to the next. Now I was going to have to wait for someone else? If I didn't know better I'd think this was all one big joke. With nothing better to do I started to wander around the room. It didn't seem like a waiting room. If anything it seemed like a big plaza, like you'd expect at the entrance of a museum. Only there weren't any people around. It was totally empty, and totally silent. It was actually kind of freaky. One wall was dominated by carvings. I walked up and gave it a look.

In big block letters on top it said: FOR THOSE WHO FELL SO OTHERS WOULDN'T. Underneath were names. Nearly a hundred of them. Cape names first, than real names. I could even recognize some of them.

"It's a bit overwhelming," a voice said from behind me. "Isn't it?"

"There are so many," I answered back still staring at the wall.

"More than there should be," I turned to face the speaker, and my heart leapt into my throat. Standing not five feet behind me was Alexandria herself. She was looking past me at the names on the wall. I tried to tear my gaze away, to keep from staring like a moron, but I couldn't. Slowly she looked away from the etchings and looked me dead in the eye and gave me a small smile. "Less, though, then there could be. I take comfort in that much."

I could only nod, my head swimming.

"Now, are you ready to get going?" She asked.

"Going?" I felt like I was in a totally different conversation.

"They did tell you you'd be meeting someone, right?"

"Yeah," I blinked as I processed what she was saying. "You, you're the one I was going to meet."

"Of course," she said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I try and meet all our new Wards. Especially if they show as much promise as you do."

Alexandria thought I showed promise? Did someone tell her she was meeting someone else. I wasn't anything more than a screw up pity case.

"You disagree?" Alexandria questioned, throwing me totally off. I must have the worst poker face ever. With her mask it was nearly impossible to tell what she was thinking, but I knew when someone was looking for an answer even to an obvious question.

"I just, everything I try and do just ends up blowing up in my face, and people keep having to bail me out."

"True, but failure is often the result of inexperience. Everyone has faced issues because they didn't have enough experience to make the hard calls or because they put their faith in the wrong people, or because they took on more than they could handle. Even the Triumvirate faced harsh lessons when we started." I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what she was talking about. "However, inexperience is by definition a temporary thing. What really makes a hero isn't their ability to leap up on day and be ready to face the dangers out there. It's about having the will to fight, to do what must be done for the greater good no matter the personal cost. If Armsmaster's report was true it would seem that you have that ability, and no small amount of courage given the dangers you're no doubt aware of. Thanks to you a budding team of supervillains were taken off the street. The only one to escape justice has a proven track record of failing to cope with modern society. It's unlikely she'll be free for long."

Part of me wanted to ask what would happen to the others. Where they'd end up or what would be done to them, but I felt I was better off not knowing. This was the plan the whole time, more or less, but it still felt like I had betrayed them. I didn't know them all that well, and in the end they didn't know the real me at all. I'd like to think we had been friends of a sort, though I knew that was mostly just wishful thinking on my part.

"Now," Alexandria said, snapping me out of my funk. "Shall we meet your new team?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "That sounds great."


End file.
